The Never Updated Blog

So, Thursday came and went and no eggnogging happened. It is the end of a tradition. The end of an era . . . .albeit an unhealthy one . . . . .While I have still enjoyed the pleasures of the noggins with dinner every night this holiday season, the eggnog party was a no-go. It makes my heart feel heavy, or maybe that's from drinking too much eggnog. . . . Anyway, I promised to fill you in on it's origins and history, so here goes.

The eggnog party was an idea that we had when David and I found out that several of his friends hadn't been allowed to drink straight eggnog as kids on the basis that it was unhealthy. Instead, their mothers insisted on mixing it half and half with skim milk. This is an abomination. We couldn't let this stand. So, the eggnog party was born. In highschool it was traditionally held on the last day of school. After class we would trudge to Mac's Milk Store and get some high quality - so thick you can feel your arteries clog just thinking about - it Neilson's Eggnog. Then we would walk to Ryan Denholme's house and watch one of the Aliens movies and chug our 2-3 litres of eggnog each. The first year was just eggnog, but over the course of the next few years, other delectables such pizza, and Candycane crackle ice cream were added. We always went home bloated and happy. We've done it every year for at least the last six years, as we moved on to higher education, the location changed and it began to be scheduled the first free night after the last person was done their exams. Well, being the youngest, and the only one who is in a four year program, I was making everyone wait until I was done. Maybe people are just getting too sensible or something, the interest was there, but the commitment wasn't. Oh well . . .I suppose these things happen.

So, turkeys . . . . .and thawing. When employing the immersion in water technique, I always think:

"To float, or not to float,
That is the qustion.
Whether is better in my mind to sink
This bird which slings and arrows have brought to my landry sink,
Or to allow to float amidst a sea of amoebic troubles."
--Turkspeare

Well, I came to the conclusion that sinking the bird would be better that leaving part of it exposed to the air and the warmth - the object is after all to thaw the bird, not to allow it to go squirdgy(that's the technical term). Once this decision is made however, the problem arises of how to sink the bird. My first thought was that there is an air cavity in there which is the cause of my bird's bouyancy. Logically then the easiest way to remove the air is to simply allow the space to fill with water, but a torpedo will neither fit in my laundry sink, nor leave the bird looking respectable for the table tomorrow afternoon. The next best thing then would be to weigh it down, but with what? Most things that I tried were either not heavy enough to submerge the bird, or the bird would slide out from underneath the weight and rise to the surface again. Then it hit me. Dad has a diving belt with lead weights on it. Perfect. I can wrap the thing in lead and then expect not to come down with lead poisoning tomorrow. Not perfect. Ahhh, but the bird is already double sealed to keep it away from the sink which is commonly used for such things as cleaning paintbrushes and washing cat litter pans. Pefect again. Indeed, the bird is drowning under the weight of a vintage 70's diving belt as we speak. I even took a couple of pics.





December 23rd saw us decorating the tree - we are always late in getting it decorated. As usual Burby came over and helped out. It was good to see him, I almost never get to see him these days. It's kinda funny considering that we live a five minute drive apart. Anyway, trimmed the tree, sipped eggnog and watched the Griswold Christmas Vacation. Such a good movie.

In other knews, it is almost midnight which means that it is almost Christmas. . . . .MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!! I'm about to go downstairs and have the traditional reading of "The Night Before Christmas" before I go to bed. Mom still enjoys doing stockings and I some how don't feel obligated to persuade her otherwise :) As kids the rule was that we could open our stockings before the parentals were up, but had to wait for the other presents until they woke up. So, with tomorrow being a Sunday I will open my stocking before church, but that is it. As far as I know church is at the same time as normal - 9:30am - which means that I gotta get to bed.

Good night Folks

Andrew